Studies performed on synovial membrane and parallel synovial fluid leukocytes from
patients with rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, Reiter's syndrome, and
degenerative joint disease revealed an overlap in the immunopathologic abnormalities
found in the various inflammatory synovitides. With the use of antinucleoprotein serum as a
tracer, extranuclear deposits of nucleoprotein were identified within synovial membrane and
in inclusions of synovial fluid leukocytes. Nucleoprotein deposits occurred in a distribution …